December Teens of the Month: Laura Tweedie and Abhishek Bhargava

Sunday

Dec 29, 2013 at 8:00 AM

Let’s take a look at our December Teens of the Month, Lake’s Laura Tweedie and Jackson’s Abhishek Bhargava.

She prefers Facebook; he prefers Twitter. Her guilty pleasure is drinking pop; his is any Taylor Swift song. In 10 years, she wants to be in the medical profession; he wants to be living in a city, possibly pursuing a degree in a science, economics or international relations. Both are members of their school’s cross country teams and National Honor Society. Let’s take a look at our December Teens of the Month, Lake’s Laura Tweedie and Jackson’s Abhishek Bhargava.

Laura Tweedie

Parents: Judy Tweedie

Age: 18

School: Lake High School

Favorite subject: Physiology

GPA: 4.326

Tell us a (clean) joke: Did you hear about the guy who was hit in the head with a can of soda? He was lucky it was a soft drink.

What scares you the most about graduating high school? I love being at Lake and seeing my friends every day. It’s scary to think that in less than a year, I will be off at a new place where I don’t know many people, and I won’t see my current friends as often.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Somewhere in the medical field. I’m not entirely sure where, yet.

Complete this sentence: Most people would be surprised to know that I ... Played softball when I was younger. I wasn’t very good, but I gained some friends and had a ton of fun.

You were just handed a new car with a full tank, where are you going? I’ve never been to the west coast, so I’d probably go somewhere in California, just to see what it’s like. That’s assuming that I had about 10 more tanks of gas ready to get me there.

Favorite high school memory: Every year at cross country camp. I loved bonding with the girls on the team, spending time outdoors and listening to Wert and Wise. I will definitely miss that in the years to come.

What is the first thing you would do if you were elected president tomorrow? I’m not really interested in running for a political position. I like running, but not for president.

Tell us about a moment in the last year where you were particularly proud of something you accomplished. What was it, and why were you proud? During this past season, I led the marching band in spelling out Script Lake. It was an honor to be chosen, but sometimes it was stressful, and I had to practice a few times outside of rehearsal to get it just right. That made it even more of a personal accomplishment when I completed it in front of the crowd.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received, and who gave it to you? “You just have to believe in yourself.” My track coach, Coach Bragg, told me this my sophomore year when she knew I could get a better 1600 time than I had been running. This holds true in more than just running, though.

Pop music, classic rock or indie? On a typical day, pop, but I like all of these to an extent.

What is the biggest issue facing teens today? To achieve the careers many of us want, we need college educations, but it is so expensive to go to school.

Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? Facebook. That’s the only one of those three that I use.

Device you can’t live without: I enjoy listening to music, so that would have to be my iPod.

Favorite hangout in Stark County: Top It Off in Hartville

Favorite TV show or movie: “Catching Fire”

Person you’d least like to be stranded on an island with: Justin Beiber

Food that grosses me out: Eggplant

First thing you would buy if you won the lottery: I would pay for my family and I to take a trip to Australia.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Lettered in cross country and track (school record in 1600 and 3200 meters, best distance runner for three years and regional qualifier and Stark County individual meet champion in cross country), symphonic winds outstanding junior concert band member, first-team all Stark County in cross country, first-team all Federal League in cross country, solo and ensemble (3 flute solos rated superior), Academic Letter, Repository Runner of the Week (four times).

Abhishek Bhargava

Parents: Pramod and Trishla Bhargava

Age: 17

School: Jackson High School

Favorite subject: Biology

GPA: 4.7 (5.3 cumulative)

Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? Twitter. I think there’s something to be said about the ability to be interesting in 140 characters or less.

Device you can’t live without: My phone

What scares you the most about graduating high school? The prospect of being accountable for everything I do and say.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Living in a city, possibly pursuing a degree in a science, economics or international relations.

Complete this sentence: Most people would be surprised to know that I ... Am an avid singer in my free time. And by that, I mean I like to yell at the top of my lungs while I go about routine activities. When you can’t go for quality, go for volume.

You were just handed a new car with a full tank, where are you going? Montana.

Favorite high school memory: The first 200 meters of the Federal League cross country meet my senior year. It was the last time I had the chance to feel the adrenaline rush associated with starting a high school cross country race.

What is the first thing you would do if you were elected president tomorrow? Draft a plan for education reform.

Tell us about a moment in the last year where you were particularly proud of something you accomplished. What was it, and why were you proud?

Ever since I volunteered with ETASHA society, an Indian nongovernmental organization based in New Delhi that works to reduce poverty by enhancing employability skills for underprivileged youth, I wanted to participate beyond the six weeks I spent in India in the summer of 2012.

At the beginning of this school year, I worked with Kathyrn Stone, a history teacher at my school under the Jackson Academy for Global Studies, on establishing regular video contact between her students and the impoverished trainees at ETASHA.

Naturally, the process had its difficulties, but for the first time in school history, Jackson students were getting the chance to speak face-to-face with trainees enrolled in an NGO on the other side of the globe.

Moving forward, we hope to involve many more students and engender lasting contact between ETASHA’s administrative faculty and Jackson High School.

To me, this is incredibly important for both the students and the trainees. In a world increasingly affected by globalization, awareness of other cultures is paramount to our success as a community, and by extension, as a country.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received, and who gave it to you? “The man who won’t read has no advantage over the man who can’t read.” — Mark Twain. Ability without talent, as Twain points out, serves no purpose.

Pop music, classic rock or indie? Pop

What is the biggest issue facing teens today? Apathy. As Elie Wiesel once said, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.” Not having the motivation to work for one’s tomorrow, in my opinion is as bad as not caring at all about one’s tomorrow.

Tell us a (clean) joke: Two men walk into a bar. The first man approaches the bartender and asks for some H2O. The second man asks the bartender for some H2O, too. The second man dies. The moral? Hydrogen peroxide is not a drink to be trifled with.